Dec 19, 2010

Gingerbread Cookies

 Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup molasses
4-4 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
3 ½ teaspoons ginger

Peanut Butter Cookies


Ingredients
½ cup butter
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

Hermits

 Ingredients
¾ cup butter
1 ½ cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon mace
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup raisins (rinsed & drained)
1 cup chopped dates
1 cup chopped walnuts

Governors Sauce (aka Grandma's Green Tomato Relish)


Makes approximately 12-14 jars (2 cups each)
Takes 2 days to make

Ingredients
15 lbs green tomatoes
6 green peppers
3 medium to large onions
½ cup pickling salt
2 quarts cold water
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
3 cups cider vinegar
1 tablespoon grated horseradish

Cranberry Sauce

 Ingredients
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
4 cups Cranberries

Cranberry Orange Relish


Ingredients
2 cups sugar
4 cups cranberries
2 oranges quartered and seeded

Pecan Pie

 Ingredients
1 cup white corn syrup
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup (heaping) pecans
3 eggs
dash vanilla
dash salt

Grandma's Pie Crust

 For 1 large crust:

1 ½ cups sifted flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup shortening (or use ¼ lb shortening plus 1/8 lb butter)
3-4 tablespoons cold water

For 2 pastry crusts:

2 ½ cups sifted flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening (½ lb)
6-7 tablespoons cold water

Dec 16, 2010

Mincemeat

 (Grandmother's Recipe – that would be Grandma Andrews Grandmother)
Ingredients:
2 lbs currants
2 lbs light Sultana raisins
2 lbs dark raisins
1 lb dates
1 ½ lbs brown sugar
1 lb suet
4 tart apples
1 lb mixed peel
juice and grated rind of 1 orange
juice and grated rind of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups Brandy or Sherry

Christmas Plum Pudding

Ingredients:
¾ lb seeded raisins
¾ lb seedless raisins
½ lb currants
½ lb mixed peel
½ lb suet
2 cups fine breadcrumbs
1 cup sifted all purpose flour
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon mace
¼ lb almonds – blanched, toasted & chopped
juice & grated rind of 1 lemon
juice & grated rind of 1 orange
4 eggs beaten (thick & creamy)
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup molasses
½ tablespoon vanilla
½ tablespoon almond extract
½ cup fruit juice

Light Fruit Cake

Ingredients:

1 lb blanched almonds
17 oz package flaked coconut
1 lb Sultanas
½ lb Citron cut up
½ lb candy orange peel
½ lb red candied cherries halved
½ lb green candied cherries halved
grated rind of 1 lemon
4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
10 egg whites

Christmas Cake

 (Grandma Weeks recipe)

Ingredients:
12 eggs
1 lb butter
1 lb white sugar
2 lbs dark raisins
2 lbs light yellow raisins (Sultanas)
1 lb currants
1 lb mixed peel
1 lb dates
1 lb almonds
½ lb dried apricots
1 lb candied cherries
½ lb candied pineapple rings
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon mace
½ teaspoon ginger
5 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons soda dissolved in a little hot water
2 cups sherry
4 oz bottle almond flavoring
4 oz bottle vanilla

Velvet Shortbread Cookies



Ingredients:
1 lb butter
1 ½ cups icing sugar (sifted)
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
  1. Cream butter
  2. Add icing sugar and cream well
  3. Sift flour & baking powder, add to batter and mix well – you might want to use your hands to combine last half of flour mixture. Work it in until smooth.
  4. Divide in two. I sometimes form a log, after chilling I slice with a sharp knife about 1/8th to ¼ inch slice.
  5. Or Roll out dough and use cookie cutters
  6. Place on greased cookie sheet
  7. Bake at 325 degrees until lightly browned (about 10-12 minutes)
  8. Stores well in air tight tins or freeze after cooking

Christmas Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

½ cup butter
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon milk (or cream)
1 ½ cups flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
  1. Cream butter until light and fluffy. Beat in sugar
  2. Add egg and vanilla and beat well
  3. Sift flour, soda and baking powder, add to batter and mix well
  4. Divide dough into 3 or 4 (softball sized) balls and refrigerate 1 hour or more
  5. Roll dough out about ¼ inch thick and cut using cooking cutters
  6. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes
  7. Decorate with icing after cooled
Cookie Icing:
1 ½ cups icing sugar
4 tablespoons milk
add food coloring if desired

Non Rolled Sugar Cookies: use ¼ cup less flour and arrange by teaspoonful on cookie sheet

Chocolate Sugar Cookies: before adding flour to Sugar cookie batter, add 1/3 cup dry cocoa or 2 ounces of unsweetened melted chocolate

Baking with Grandma

Baking with Grandma Andrews, and receiving her baked goods was always an Andrews family tradition - especially at Christmas time.  I have very fond memories of the marathon weekend of Christmas cookie baking and decorating (with games of Spite & Malice in between), or what about eating her famous Christmas Plum Pudding or the Fruit Cake??  Well since Gram can no longer do the baking herself, I thought it might be time to pass on her famous recipes to the next Generations of Andrews.  So with Grandma's blessing I will turn her many, many recipe cards into this blog "Cooking with Grandma Andrews" as an electronic cookbook of sorts.  We'll start off with her baking and dessert recipes - cookies, cakes, pies, breads etc. and eventually I'll add the other categories like casseroles, meat, fish and so on.  Gram has hundreds of recipe cards so stay tuned!